My World, It Spins on Your Axis
by canadianreaders
Summary: Following the best and worst days of Lily Evans' life. Cover image credit to anxiouspineapples on tumblr.


_**A/N: Written for Jily week over on Tumblr.**_

The worst day of her life goes like this:

She wakes up to the off-tune singing of her husband, and she can just picture him in the kitchen, bouncing Harry on his hip, spinning around the room as he burns the chocolate chip pancakes. She smiles. Her life could be so much worse.

She grabs her robe from the back of the door and makes her way downstairs, finally making out the song James is singing.

It's _Grease._ She knew that making him watch that movie would lead to this. But she just shakes her head and joins in with her own off-key harmony. _You better shape up, cause I need a man, and my heart is set on you._

James smiles when he hears her voice, grabbing her hand and dragging her down the stairs and into the kitchen and they dance around the counter and Harry is laughing and in that moment they are okay. And they are slipping, slipping, slipping away, but they don't know that yet. They are young and in love and that is all that matters. They hope that it is all that matters.

They eat poptarts for breakfast. The pancakes were a lost cause as soon as they hit the chorus, the whole house now smelling like burnt chocolate. They figure the sugar is okay for day, especially on Halloween. Harry gets powdered sugar all around his mouth and somehow in his hair and Lily laughs and the sound is music to James' ears and he kisses the top of her head and in 12 hours his world will end but he does not know that yet and he is happy and that is rare and that is good.

Pete drops by that afternoon, when Harry is down for his nap. He is trembling like a leaf. His face is the colour of ash. His eyes dart around the room and James tries to talk to him while Lily makes tea, but he can't seem to get any words out. His fingers shake when he takes the mug from Lily. He grips it tight, looking James in the eye.

"This war is never going to end," the words are but breaths on his lips, but he says them with finality, with a fear and an understanding that James has never heard his friend use. And he does not know what Peter is going to do. He does not know how truly _terrified_ his best friend is. He does not know that betrayal slinks through his veins, the reason for the shaking of his fingers. He does not know that Peter is anything other than _good._

"It will," Lily says with a finality of her own, the words laced with hope. James smiles slightly, squeezing Pete's shoulder.

"Someday it will."

The words are not enough. The hope is not enough. The fear still wins.

Peter leaves, his skin slightly closer to its normal complexion. Lily grips James' hand as they watch him leave through the front window, watching him walk down the street before apparating out of sight.

"He'll be okay," Lily says, squeezing James' hand. He nods, leaning towards her and kissing her forehead. They stay like that for a little bit, hands entangled, heartbeats in sync. One being, connected by love.

And in a few hours, their heartbeats will cease, their breaths will slow. And they are slipping, slipping... But not yet. Not yet.

Lily sits with her legs curled under her later that night, nestled safely against James' side. He is shooting red sparks in the air for Harry, and they watch him as he grabs for the dashes of light, utterly transfixed. James is laughing and Lily is smiling and these are the moments she keeps close to her heart, these are the moments she wants to remember, not the darkness, but the light.

What happens next happens in slow motion and at break-neck speed all at once. There is someone there. And then James is telling her to go, and he doesn't have a wand and she cannot tell him she loves him one last time. His laughter still rings in her ears when she hears his body fall. Her heart stops. But somehow she keeps moving.

And Harry is quiet, but he looks up at her with wide eyes and she whispers to him and there is no way out, the window is too high to jump from and she can't apparate without her wand, and she is defenceless but she is Harry's defence and she will not let him die.

She stands tall, bites her lip, James' laughter still singing in her ear. She keeps that moment strapped to her chest like a shield. Harry is crying behind her and she puts all her useless hope into that boy, and he will live, he will live, _he will._

As she slips, she thinks of James, of Harry, of her family. They are together, even in the end. Together, together, together. The only word they could manage to keep.

And she slips away.

* * *

The best day of her life goes like this:

She wakes up with her cheek scrunched against her Charms book, which is lying on the arm of the common room sofa. Her legs are tucked up against her chest, covered by a soft blanket. James must have put the blanket on her. They'd been up so late doing Prefect schedules and then studying for their Charms test on Monday, she must have fallen asleep.

The room is still dark around her, and she can see the first reaches of the sun through the window, the light pushing away the stars. Lily sighs. She does not know that in a few hours she will be laughing as she kisses James Potter. She does not know the way his hand will sneak around her waist, pulling her closer to him. As of now, her neck hurts and head feels foggy and when she looks around the room she sees that James is asleep in the chair by the dying fire and her stomach jumps.

That's been happening a lot lately, she sees him and her heart beats quickens, her stomach slips out from under her. Every time he runs his hand through his hair it's like a thousand tiny birds are flying in her ears, like there are flowers blooming in her heart, when he smiles, the stars rush into her brain, and suddenly everything is bright.

She has a crush on James Potter.

She collects her things, making her way upstairs to hopefully get a little more sleep before she has to officially wake up. As she passes James she stops to cover him with the blanket, and he stirs slightly. Her stomach jolts once again.

They're just friends, and she is lucky to have that, and yes he asked her out that one time in fifth year but that doesn't mean he still feels that way. Later that day she will find out he does, that she has been the centre of his solar system for quite some time, but she does not know that yet. Now she frowns slightly, moving away from him and up the stairs, reaching her dorm and then promptly collapsing on her bed.

It is one of the last nice days of the year, the October air crisp but still warm, the leaves just starting to fall, covering Hogwarts in colour. They decide to put the books away for one afternoon, and instead spend some time by the lake, just taking in the last few hours or warmth.

Lily and James sit together under a maple tree, playing wizards chess. Sirius is sprawled out in the grass a few feet away from them, and he keeps yelling out moves to James' pieces, hoping to screw him up.

Lily wins the first game, James, the second, and they are about halfway through the third when Lily can't stop glancing at the way he bites his lip right before he makes a move and how his fingers knot pieces of grass together in his lap and suddenly she is speaking. She doesn't even think, the stars in her head keep clouding her thoughts, she just speaks.

"Hey, remember in fifth year, when you asked me out?" Her words shake slightly, and his cheeks go pink, as if embarrassed.

"Merlin don't remind me," he runs a hand through his hair. "I was such a git back then."

She looks down at her hands, twisting her fingers together. She takes a deep breath, deciding just to say it. Because the sun is bright, and her thoughts are but bits of stardust and he is smiling and she wants to see him smile for the rest of her life.

"Well if you were to do that again I would definitely say yes," she meets his eyes, he looks incredibly confused. "The asking me out part, not the being a git part."

"What?"

He's just staring at her. He still looks confused, as if he can't quite believe what she's saying, and Lily can feel her cheeks turn red and she decides that it is time to act. And so she leans across the chessboard and kisses him.

His hands are steady on her waist, hers loop around his neck, and behind them Sirius is whooping and Marlene is clapping but in that moment they are the only two people in the universe. The break apart eventually, and she can taste his smile on her lips.

"Go out with me, Evans?"

She just laughs and kisses him again, her laughter slipping down his throat and filling his lungs with light. The world around them does not matter anymore, the danger that is out there falls away because they are together and they are laughing and smiling and there is joy in the space between them. They are but two stars, creating a constellation.

And for a second they are okay. Their fingers intertwine and she presses a kiss to his forehead and she feels like everything is _right_ for the first time in years. Their friends all wolf-whistle around them and Lily's heart thumps in her chest as she looks at James, her love dripping from her fingers like paint.

And they come together, just like that.


End file.
